Chart House Restaurant (chain restaurant)

Rating:

Quality, Taste, Cleanliness, Environment, Price, & Staff

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Positive: Excellent view of the water with a large array of seafood and delicious, warm chocolate lava cake.

Negative: Mediocre tasting food.

Overall: Large, high quality seafood selection with excellent ambiance. The food taste, however, is average.

Revisit:  Not again.  Despite the great quality and large selection the taste is just not good enough, and even the excellent ambiance does not make up for it.

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UPDATED APRIL 4, 2012:

I had the chance to try the Chart House Restaurant in Philadelphia overlooking the water and Camden NJ.  The restaurant had the same, excellent ambiance I remembered from their other restaurant in Northern NJ.

I enjoyed the Calamari appetizer and thought it was great.  The Macadamia crusted Mahi with Peanut sauce and Coconut shrimp with crab fried rice were both of excellent quality but the taste was mediocre at best.  In fact I thought I made them better at home.  The chocolate lava cake was as excellent as I remembered it from my prior visit.  Since the restaurant wasn’t as busy, the service was excellent and the server was very helpful.

Although the seafood selection is pretty large with many great things available for pescovegetarians on the menu, I would not be coming back due to the lack of taste. 

FROM APRIL 7, 2010:

Does your family always go to Halal only restaurants?  Are you tired of going to restaurants that always look run down?  Do you want to take your special loved ones to a nice restaurant on an important occasion?

If you answered yes to any of those questions then Chart House Restaurant is an excellent place for you and your family to try. More than half of the menu is seafood and everything tastes delicious.  The best part is that the food does not have a “fishy” taste as it is seasoned very well.

I recently tried this place with my family and absolutely loved it. It is located in Weehawken, next to the Hudson river, with the most beautiful view of The New York City skyline. They offer outdoor seating after Memorial Day Weekend, which is a great option to have. They also have a brunch buffet which costs $35 per person, a great price for the food and the unobstructed view of the city.

My family and I did not choose to do the buffet. We ordered the spinach and artichoke dip with crostinis for appetizers (this was one of the specials of the day) and we all loved it! We also ordered Clam Chowder which was great too but had too much clam meat for my taste. For the entrees we ordered different types of fish including the Macadamia Crusted Mahi Mahi with Coconut Rice, Parmesan Sea Bass with Fettuccine, and Flounder stuffed with Crab Meat. My favorites were the Parmesan Sea Bass and the Macadamia Crusted Mahi Mahi.I am really picky with seafood and this has become one of my favorite seafood restaurants as all the fish were fresh and tasted very good. We also ordered the coconut shrimp for an entree. For those that do not like fish, this is always a safe option. All the entrees were normal proportions and could be finished by an average person. They weren’t extremely large and sharing may not be an option if you are moderately hungry.

The last thing we had was the Chocolate Lava Cake which was just mouth-watering and is definitely a must have! (Although maybe the Grand Lux Cafe probably has a better tasting lava cake.) Just remember to order this with the rest of your food as it takes 30 minutes to make. Our waiter did not tell us about this until we were ready to order dessert. This was the downside to this restaurant. You pay $40-$50 per person to dine but don’t get that kind of service. Our waiter only came to us to take our orders and to give us our food. It was hard to get a hold of him because we would hardly see him near our table; he did not have many tables that he was serving either. He did not even come to ask us if we needed anything, something that’s expected from waiters at all restaurants. Despite the service, I highly recommend this restaurant because of the delicious food and amazing view of NYC. It would also be nicer if you go at night rather than the day.

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Chart House Restaurant Website

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Tre Piani (Central NJ)

Rating:

Quality, Taste, Cleanliness, Environment, Price , & Staff

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Positive:  Excellent fine dining experience with delicious food and superb service. 

Negative:  Not enough virgin cocktails, and the desserts are mediocre.

Overall: Great restaurant to visit when in the mood for a fine dining experience or for a special occasions.

Revisit:  Yes, especially for the steaks and burgers along with the ambiance.

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Ever wonder how it would feel to experience halal food at a fine dining restaurant instead of  just eating seafood all the time?

Well… Tre Piani offers just that! This place is perfect for celebrating a special occasion, having a fancy dinner with friends, or taking out your special someone. They have a separate halal menu that you have to request and they cook everything in separate pots and pans so you don’t have to worry about it being mixed with the non-halal meat. The service here is spectacular from the minute you walk in to the minute you leave. The servers are very well trained and they continuously come to your table to ask if you need anything, constantly filling your water glass. I’ve been there several times and the service has been spectacular every time. Tre Piani also has a catering service and I believe you could rent out a part of the restaurant as well to do a special event such as a graduation party or a birthday party for adults.

They offer a wide variety of food. The appetizers include fried calamari and different types of soups and salad. The entrees consist of Italian dishes, burgers, pizza, and some steaks. I have enjoyed their Tre Piani Burger (cooked medium well), and the filet mignon steak (cooked medium rare) the most. The portion size for the steak is perfect for one person. It is served with mashed potatoes and sautéed spinach. The meat was tender and juicy and I definitely recommended it medium rare for anybody who loves soft and tender steak. The Tre Piani burger was amazing as well. I would recommend getting it cooked medium well or well done rather than medium rare. Also, it is very big and heavy so only get it if you are really hungry. Otherwise I would recommend the smaller burger that they have on the menu.  Their italian dishes are truly authentic and delicious.  I don’t think you can go wrong with anything on the menu.  Please be aware though, the menu they have on their website is old — they have a newer, updated menu with more steaks at the restaurant.

I would really like to see a larger variety off virgin cocktails at the restaurant as they only have a mixed berry cocktail which is not worth nine dollars.  In terms of the dessert, I wasn’t that impressed. i tried the warm chocolate cake but I definitely like the Grand Lux molten chocolate cake better.

Compared to other high end restaurants, Tre Piani is not as expensive as you would expect. If two people go, and they get one appetizer, 2 entrees, and a dessert, they could expect to spend about a $100.
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Tre Piani’s Website

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Grand Lux Cafe (New York/New Jersey)

Rating: 

Quality, Taste, Cleanliness, Environment, Price , & Staff

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Positive: Original and delicious baked to order desserts.

Negative: Very busy at lunch/dinner times and desserts take 30 minutes to be made.

Overall: Great place for baked to order dessert in a grand setting that must be tried if you come within 15 miles of any of the locations!

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craving donuts?  molten chocolate? strawberries?  pineapple?

Grand Lux Cafe is my go to restaurant for desserts whenever I am in Long Island, Paramus, or even Las Vegas. They have baked to order desserts which take half an hour to make so you have to order them when you order your entrees.

Let me start with the Molten Chocolate Cake. This is one of the best lava cakes i’ve ever had. It is served very hot with vanilla ice cream. What makes it really good is the quality of the chocolate that they use and the hotness of the chocolate liquid inside. Another one of my favorite is the beignets that they sell with 3 dipping sauces. Please be aware that one of their dipping sauces has alcohol in it so make sure to tell the waiter before hand!  These are also made fresh and are very warm. The only way I can describe them is that they are in between zeppoles and donuts. I recommend them highly if you are in a group of 4. For 2 people, these are a bit too much because I believe you get 6 for one order.

I have also tried the pineapple upside down cake which is not bad either and only recommend it if you are craving a pineapple dessert. The strawberry shortcake is also delicious for all you strawberry lovers. The ambiance of the restaurant is great as well. The decorations are very grand just like they say it in their name “Grand Lux.”  If you want delicious, baked to order desserts and live close by definitely try this place out!

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    Grand Lux Cafe Website

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Outback Steakhouse (Chain Restaurant)

Rating:

Quality, Taste, Cleanliness, Environment, Price , & Staff

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Positive:  Succulent, halal lamb rack cooked on a wood fire grill from New Zealand at your local Outback Steakhouse chain restaurant.

Negative:  Taste is slightly above average and quantity is small for this expensive dish.  The onion rings are way too greasy.

Overall: If you love lamb chops and eat halal you should try Outback at least once.

Revisit:  No, too expensive for the taste and quantity.

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Looking for juicy, succulent lamb made on a wood grill oven?

Try out the chain restaurant you see almost everywhere around the USA,  Outback Steakhouse, Australian style steaks.

On my visit to the steakhouse, in Edison, NJ I first noted the ambiance seemed to be a little lower quality than I would expect at a steakhouse, for example comparing to Ruth’s Chris‘s excellent ambiance in Toronto, Canada.  It seemed to have a mixture of Pizza Hut and a Steakhouse feel.  However, the dimmed lighting did significantly add to the ambiance.

This restaurant does not have any Halal items on their menu.  However, their lamb is imported from New Zealand where they only distribute Zabihah halal meat. We told the waiter that we were fasting and wanted our food to come at the appropriate time along with appetizers and drinks. The server was very nice to accommodate us. He also spoke to the chef in the back who agreed to clean the grill for the lamb and to make it separately from other meat products. He was very kind and thoughtful, and the service was excellent.

We bought their well-known onion rings as the appetizer. The arrangement of the onion rings was very presentable.  The onion ring seasoning was good and the dip was also equally good but they were too oily for our tastes.   We also had a chance to order the lamb rack, cooked medium rare was recommended by the server. It was very succulent and moist with a distinct taste of lamb and light oak flavored seasoning from the wood burning grill.  The food tasted pretty good but needed barbecue sauce to make it taste better. We refused the usual Port wine sauce that they bring with the lamb.  One of the side dishes was sweet potatoes which was glazed with light brown sugar and tasted very unique and good.  They had multiple non-alcoholic iced teas but they were mediocre for my taste. For dessert we tried their chocolate thunder cake which had a warm brownie with pecans and ice cream topped with whip cream and fudge. It was delicious but very filling.

Overall I would recommend those who love lamb to try this place.  The ambiance is pretty good and the service is excellent.  However, beside the excellent service the food was slightly above-average and may not be worth the extra price.
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